Second Chance
by Charmedfan90
Summary: Rogue takes a stand; she doesn't want to feel weak anymore after hanging out with her friends. Will this one thing change the course of how certain events happen? Maybe even some semblance of control of her powers and helping a certain someone find a better path?
1. Chapter 1

Marie D'Ancanto looked around the school, and she let out a sigh. Even when she was surrounded by people who share abilities just like her; she felt like an outcast. She didn't know what to do about this feeling. She could tell that Bobby Drake had some feelings for her, but she didn't know how to reciprocate those kind of feelings. Ever since she had accidentally nearly drained the life out of her first boyfriend, she hadn't been able to let her guard down. She readjusted her gloves that she was wearing and tugged at the scarf to get her neck covered. Her thoughts had drifted off towards the mutant who had actually saved her; some people on campus thought that she had a crush on the elder mutant, but it wasn't like that. Logan had saved her from the wrath of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants at the Statue of Liberty. Shortly after that incident, he had left to go off and find himself. Since he had left; she had gone back to calling herself Rogue. She felt like she was hiding apart of herself, but she felt safer that way. As she walked through the courtyard, a small breeze brushed one of her white bangs flew in her face. She tucked the strand behind her ear, and then had almost run into Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops. She was always nervous around the teachers; especially the leader of the X-Men. He always seemed stoic, and had this confidence about him which she almost envied. "Hey there Rogue," he said, flashing her a small smile.

"Hello Professor Summers," she mumbled to him.

"What's up?" he questioned; he had been looking for Jean, but he could tell that the student had a lot of things on her mind.

"Uh…nothing," she said quickly, her eyes going down to her shoes. She found herself taking a step back, and Scott gave her an odd look,

"I think there is," he pressed; when he looked at this young mutant in front of him it reminded him of a younger version of him. Even though the teachers themselves weren't that much older than the students, they did have wisdom way beyond their age because of their abilities. She shoved her hands into her pockets, and kept quiet. He had reserved himself too as a student; it took him a long time to get out of his shell; he had to find himself a good group of friends.

"Ah'm ok," she insisted weakly.

Scott shook his head, "You aren't alone here Marie," he said, dropping her real name on her. "You are surrounded by people who share abilities just like you do,"

"My powers can kill people," she said. She hated her ability; she always felt off even with her family, but when her powers came out; it nearly destroyed her. "I can still feel people I have touched in my head," which would explain once in a while when she would growl, or want to pick a fight with a student for no obvious reason.

"Believe it or not," Scott said, "In time you will find some semblance of control," he promised, as he started to lead her in a walk. Rogue reluctantly followed the teacher in the courtyard.

"Ah dunno," her southern accent coming out a bit.

"Believe me, when I came here I literally was blind," he explained softly, "I couldn't open my eyes at all without my uncontrollable optic blasts exploding from eyes," He pointed to his ruby quartz glasses, "With the help of Professor X and an old friend named Hank…they were able to make these Ruby Quartz glasses,"

"They hold them back?" she questioned. His situation wasn't too much different than hers she supposed, but at least he could control his powers with those on. Only layering more clothes on really helped her, and that was just more of a precaution; she even slips up once she could hurt someone.

Scott could tell that she was still reluctant, "We all learn some level of degree of control being here," he promised her. He thought back to Jean when her powers had first came about. Each person here had a story, and each ways they could control it. He was thinking about getting the teachers together to help her out. "But…the thing is," he pressed on trying a different tactic, "I wouldn't have gotten far or even a little out of my shell without making some friends," he was hoping that she would open up some more. Rogue nodded her head, she could hear what he was trying to say.

"Ah…Ah hear you," she said, looking up at him. "Ah'll try to," she finally relented. Rogue knew that she couldn't just breeze by here without being miserable. "Thanks Mr. Summers," she said. He nodded his head and put a hand on her clothed shoulder squeezing it gently before walking off. She watched him walk off, and found herself feeling a little bit better about things. Admittedly she had pushed the few people who talked with her away, and there were few of them that talked to her after the incident with Logan at the mansion.

Rogue walked away, and saw one of the guys that actually did talk with her. "Hey Rogue what's up?" Johnny St. Allerdyce walked up to her playing with his lighter. She raised an eyebrow at him; he always seemed to flipping it on and off, or just holding it. Her very first encounter with him was in history class he had created a fireball out of a small flicker of a flame. She had to admit it was cool when he did that; even when it was taken out by Bobby's ice attack.

"Nothing," she hardly ever did anything on the weekends. She would usually hide in her room, listening to her music and or reading a book.

"Sounds pretty boring," he said, "you should come out with me, Bobby and Jubilee," anyone could tell that she was lonely, and Bobby's attempts to get her out didn't work.

"Uh…" she told herself that she was going to try and get out more, but the prospect of doing that now suddenly terrified her.

"Come on," he prodded gently, "It's not going to kill ya," he said, as he started to flick his lighter on and off. Before she could respond, the other two mutants showed up.

"Hey Sparky whats up?" Jubilee asked, as she blew a bubble. "Hey girl," she said to Rogue with a bright grin. She had definitely the opposite personality of Rogue; she was outgoing and a little on the crazy side.

"We should leave soon if we want to make the movie," Bobby added, and then smiled lightly at the mutant. "You joining us?" he questioned.

"Yes, yes she was," John answered for her. "Let's get out of here," he said, eyeing Rogue challenging her to disagree. Rogue bit her lip and decided to go for it. What was the worst thing that could happen? They were just going to a movie so…nothing bad could really happen.

"Sweet," Jubilee bounced, "Let's go," and suddenly she looped arms with Rogue. The brunette jumped in surprise; other students never got this close. John had to smirk at the look on Rogue's face as the other female mutant dragged her towards the front of the school. Lucky for them; they were treated more as tenants than as students on the weekends. They were after all in their late teens who wanted to have a normal life, and to those who drove they could take one of the vehicles off property for a bit. It was nice to know that there was faith kept in the students. Bobby was going to offer Rogue to come sit up front with him, but was interrupted by Jubilee dragging her to the backseat with her. "So glad you're finally getting out of this place for a minute," she said excitedly. Rogue had to chuckle slightly at how hyper active Jubilee was. The girl clearly needed to switch to decaff; though Rogue knew she was just a little jealous. She was able to be free with herself while she wasn't.

"Oh yeah?" Rogue responded, not wanting to be rude to the other girl as John sat up in the passenger seat waiting for Bobby to start driving.

"Will you hurry it up Bobby?" John asked, irritation lacing his voice. "You know we would be halfway there if I was driving,"

"And you nearly wrecked one of the cars," Bobby shot back, as he put it into gear and started to drive off property. As much as she was an introvert, it was nice to be surrounded by people who weren't scared of her. She was scared of herself with this power brewing inside of her.

"You are quiet," Jubilee observed giving her a look. "You've been at the school almost a full year and you-,"

"Jubes, seriously," Bobby protested, "You said you would tone back the crazy-,"

"Eyes on the road Popsicle," she tended to give people nicknames Rogue noticed, "And I am being perfectly sweet," she said snottily before turning back towards Rogue.

From the front seat John was able to see that Rogue was actually smiling a little bit; he hadn't seen anything like that since Magneto had nearly killed her. And Jubilee being her normal crazy self seemed to get her out of her shell more than Bobby's shy act that he was pulling. John was glad to see that worked, smirking at the times Jubilee got him to open up too just a few years back. He ran a hand through his shaggy locks, and looked towards Bobby. Few times since they became friends did they ever fight, but once in a while they both got their eyes set on a girl and they practically competed for her attention. It started when they were in history class; he had set a fire ball up for two reasons; he was bored, and he wanted to catch Rogue's attention. Of course Bobby had to upstage him by freezing the fireball and making him drop it. He stopped thinking about the past and started to focus on the present. Bobby looked irritated; which he took a little bit of vindictive pleasure out of.

Soon they hit the local theater, and Jubilee bounded off to go get the tickets. Ever since they all became friends, they switched off for treating with whatever allowance they got for hanging out. That left Rogue hanging around with Bobby and John.

"So…" Rogue stood awkwardly, hanging not too close. "You guys do this often?" she questioned, crossing her arms across her chest; it almost felt like she was holding herself together. Why was she so nervous being out with other students?

"Yeah it's nice to break out once in a while," John answered swiftly as he got his lighter out yet again with a grin. "Hopefully she didn't choose a chick flick like she did last time," he groused.

"I'd rather have an action movie over some romance any day," Rogue let out without even thinking about it. Both males raised their eyebrows in surprise; she wasn't really an open book except with one other person and he was off who knows where doing who knows what. She then quickly added, "Squishy romantic stuff is just like a giant middle finger that I can't do stuff like that,"

"Plus they are annoying and almost stalkerish," John added, interrupting whatever Bobby could have had to say. Rogue nodded her head in agreement, and before any more could be said Jubilee came back over.

"Alright dweebs lets go," she said.

"Not really a term of endearment Jubilee," Bobby said as they followed the hyperactive mutant towards the concession stand. Rogue remained quiet during this and Jubilee looked at the interactions between the males and their new friend. Jubilee couldn't help but roll her eyes at what she saw that they were doing. John and Bobby had fought for Kitty Pryde when she first came to the school, but after all their squabbling Piotor Rasputin came in and swept the ghost like mutant off her feet.

"Jubes seriously?" John groaned, "another romantic fluff movie?"

"Well if I'm not getting anywhere with anyone, I can at least live vicariously through characters in movies," she shot back at the fiery mutant. As the group of rag tag mutants headed into the theater of whatever movie Jubilee chose, Jubilee couldn't help but look at the two guys. They were both crushing on Rogue hard, but Jubilee didn't want to be in between an argument again. Soon as this movie was done and over with, she was going to pull them aside and beat some sense into them about this whole competing for a girls affection thing.

Soon they were corralled in the theater and Rogue couldn't help but get bored throughout the sheer plot, and she was beginning to crave something sweet. She tapped Jubilee's shoulder gently, "I'm gonna go get some candy," Jubilee nodded her head, and Rogue got up and headed out of the theater. She walked towards the concession stand, and felt someone bump into her. "Excuse me-," she started to apologize when the said person she bumped into grabbed her shoulders roughly and started to push her against a wall. "Look her sugah," she said, her southern drawl coming out strong, "Ah don't-,"

"Hold on there pretty gal," the creeper said to her. He was built up a little bit, and she was covered from head to toe. This was one of the few times she wished she was a little more bare so she could actually use her power on him. He was reeking of tobacco and alcohol which was making her gag. Before anything more could be said, someone had yanked the offender off of her. Her savior was nonetheless her group of newfound friends lead by John.

"Keep your hands off of her," John threatened; he instinctively went for his lighter. Bobby was close behind him; their quarrel forgotten for the moment over how to win Rogue's praise over.

"We can't use our powers here," he hissed. Luckily it didn't have to resort to that, because the guy backed off, leaving the mutants alone.

"Come on let's get you out of here," Jubilee said, gingerly grabbing her friend's shoulder. They headed back towards the car, and Rogue sat there in silence. She was completely defenseless against a normal human. "Roguey come on," Jubilee said, "it'll be ok,"

"Ah was completely defenseless against a normal person," she grumbled.

"Probably because you don't take the self defense classes," Bobby pointed out. Rogue stopped to think about it; Professor Xavier had given her the option to opt out. She knew that if she accidentally touched someone she might hurt someone and she didn't want to take that chance.

"Ah might hurt someone,"

"I'll spar with ya," Juiblee offered.

"But-,"

"I have made my decision," she said with finality. "You can sign up tomorrow," she said.

"Alright alright," Rogue said, surrendering to them. Even though the night hadn't gone as planned, she was starting to form friendships for the first time since Logan left. Maybe…just maybe she could make this power thing work for her.

_Hopefully you guys will like this; well even if not one of my favorite pairings will be here, and things will work out. Thanks to all who read, review and what not. _


	2. Chapter 2

_**Not sure if anyone was reading this, but regardless I want to write on this story still, so here is the next chapter!**_

Rogue let out a sigh as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail as she headed towards where Storm and Cyclops taught. She was still nervous about actually training how to fight; it was something she thought that she would never really learn how to do. As she approached the gymnasium, Jubilulation Lee bounded over to her and she looped her arm through hers. "Hey Roguey what's up?" she questioned, "You excited to learn how to kick some ass?" she asked in quick succesion. Rogue couldn't help but smirk at her friend; she was always so happy and bubbly.

"Ah guess," she replied, still worried that the firework shooting mutant was going to hurt herself by accidentally brushing her skin with hers once more. She was always afraid that she was going to hurt someone if they got too close. "Careful sugah," she admonished, as the other girl's arm nearly touched her. "You're going ta get hurt,"

"Oh come on don't be such a chicken," Jubilee exclaimed suddenly.

"A chicken? Seriously?" Rogue questioned shockingly, "mah powers can kill. Ah put mah first boyfriend in the hospital for weeks," she shuddered thinking about the light psyche of his memories that was still inside of her head. She hated feeling those things, especially since she couldn't even reap the benefits of using the memories or skills that each person had.

"So could really anyone else's powers," Jubilee said with an eye roll. Rogue stayed silent after that, she wasn't sure she was entirely looking forward to learning to fight anymore. Sure she had been terrified when she nearly got attacked by that drunkard. "Stop living in your own head," she advised. John and Bobby had already learned how to fight, so they probably wouldn't be in class with them. Rogue readjusted the long sleeves on her arms.

"So," Rogue said changing the subject, "the guys were acting very odd last night," that actually shocked Jubilee to silence for a moment. "Oh mah god," Rogue giggled, "Did I actually get you to shut up for a minute?"

Jubilee wasn't sure if she should tell her friend about the male mutants trying to vie for her attention. Despite her bubbly personality, she couldn't seem to actually hold onto her friends. She bit her lip for a moment before responding with the truth, "They both seem to like you,"

Rogue laughed, "Why crush on someone that they can't even hold hands with never mind kiss?" she was actually shocked about that information. She wasn't sure how she was going to handle knowing that now.

"They kind of did the same thing with Kitty Pryde when she first came to the school," Jubilee said, "They got too crazy with it, and we kind of stopped being friends after she got with Peter Rasputin," Rogue thought about the couple and smiled; they did seem happy at least.

"Well that's not going ta happen here," she didn't have a whole lot of close friends here yet.

"I hope not," they got to the gym, and saw that there was a small class there. Ororo Munroe was standing in front of the small group, her long white hair pulled up into a low bun.

"Hello ladies," she said; her accent coming through slightly. Her blue eyes widened slightly as she saw that Rogue was actually in the class with them. She was glad that the girl was coming out of her shell slightly. Professor Xavier had worried about her when she wasn't making friend right away; especially after what had happened at the Statue of Liberty. Then the other day she saw Rogue going out with Jubilee, John, and Bobby. "Welcome to those who are new," Rogue admittedly was a little jealous of how much power Ororo had not just with her mutation, but with normal human things. She had confidence, and her body language screamed that she had the ability to fight.

Before she knew it, she was doing drills with the weather witch watching over her. It was a little scary seeing that she was so close, but at least she was trying to learn how to fight. When she managed to land a hit on Jubilee she actually was excited. About an of hour of training they finally called it quits, and she headed off towards the showers. "See Roguey you did great!"

"Thanks," she said, actually pleased with herself.

Meanwhile Bobby and John were in another class, and couldn't help but shoot each other looks. It was obvious that the two males liked the same girl. "Boys," Jean Grey said from the front of the room. Jean looked at them; most of the time she could block out most of the hormonal thoughts, but lately she was having difficulty doing it. It made teaching class a little distracting. Granted she knew that sometimes learning about biology wasn't the best thing especially for teenagers, but she would think they would like to learn about how some of the mutations could actually appear.

John glanced towards Bobby; he had at least tried to start paying attention. John's thoughts drifted back towards Rogue. He thought that maybe if he opened up a little more about his past; even more then he did with Bobby. That kind of made him stop for a moment; Bobby Drake was the first person at the school his age to actually talk with him. Of course he left him alone; ever since he almost burned down his foster home it was hard to actually make friends. He still could talk with Rogue as a friend though couldn't he? He always did what he wanted in the past.

Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee came into class a little later. Rogue ended up sitting right next to John, and he smiled lightly at her. "Did Ah miss anything?" she questioned as she shrugged out of her jacket and sat back down.

"Nah," John said, passing what little notes that he had managed to take and she smiled at him. There was definitely a change in the girl already he noted. When she had walked into the room, she hadn't had her arms close her sides; her whole body language was starting to change.

"What?" she questioned slightly, with a small smirk; she had caught John looking at her.

"It's nothing," he said, and then forced himself to focus on what Jean was saying. John couldn't seem to focus on it, and suddenly felt someone kick the back of his legs. He turned around, and saw Jubilee flash him an innocent look and popped a piece of gum in her mouth. John rolled his eyes; he wasn't going to be fighting with Bobby for her affections.

A few hours later they had finished up all of their classes. Some of the students had adjourned into the living room area and were bickering over a movie again. Jubilee rolled her eyes at the other students, and suddenly hopped off of the couch, and popped a comedy into the DVD player. "God you guys are a bunch of goobers," she said. All the couples wanted to watch gushy romantic movies, but everyone else was wanting action. "I swear it's like we hang out with a bunch of sheep," Jubilee muttered to herself.

"Sugah they are going to hear you one of these days," Rogue warned in a hushed tone. She had to admit being out in public was an odd feeling for her. She reached up and started to play with the couple of snow white colored hair. She used to hate having it; she was always tempted to dye it, but never did.

"Ask me if I care," Jubilee said with an eye roll. John smirked at the mutant; she was always so outspoken and insane. He started to pull out his lighter and she shot him a dirty look, "Hey there Sparky don't even think about lighting that in here again," she growled, "last time you nearly set the couch on fire,"

"And last time we bickered your fireworks nearly exploded the TV," John shot back.

"Guys," Bobby said, rubbing his temples. Rogue couldn't help but smile; this is the most normal she had felt since she became a mutant. John caught the mutant smiling, and he pocketed his zippo for now.

"And you wonder why we have such a hard time picking movies out," Kitty Pryde's voice appeared from the floor. She was sitting in between her boyfriend's legs. Peter Rapsutin's much bigger body cocooned hers. Rogue noticed that the Russian American student was very quiet, but whenever he was with Kitty, he was a lot more open. In fact when they were in class one day, she had accidentally brushed her hip against his desk and had knocked over some papers. She noticed that he sketched quite a bit; he was talented. He seemed embarrassed at first, but once she complimented him it set his mind at ease.

Meanwhile Professor Charles Xavier was wheeling around his school; this was the dream he had when he first met Eric Lensherr; teaching students how to hone their mutant abilities and be comfortable with themselves. Granted he knew that certain things about his dream was flawed; mutants couldn't be totally at ease until humanity knew about their existence. Hiding was hard for mutants to do; especially the students. It was hard enough growing up as it was, and sometimes students viewed their mutations as curses. One particular student he had been worried about for a while was Rogue. After what happened with her and Magneto nearly killing her with his own powers really rattled the young girl.

Charles looked towards the living room, and felt a smile hit his face. There was the mutant he was worried about being around with other students and actually smiling. He was glad that the girl was finally getting out of her shell a bit. Now the only other thing that was on his mind was a lost soul he had encountered; he had no memory of anything that had happened to him. Charles had tried to help him as best as he could, so he was off 'finding himself'.

Rogue was glad that she took Scott's advice; she was feeling better about herself already. She had managed to find some good friends so far. Soon everyone got up and went their separate ways; for the most part anyways. Jubilee could tell that they were going to start fighting over Rogue once more and she was putting a stop it again. "Girl time," Jubilee said to her, and then dragged her towards her room.

"What are you doing?" Rogue questioned.

"We are doing something different," Jubilee said to her.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, not sure if she did like where this was going. She was wondering why she suddenly yanked her away. Maybe there was something that she wasn't telling her?

"Just…you haven't done anything really different since you started here," Jubilee said to her. "Now is the time to figure out who you are, change things up!" Rogue opened up her mouth to interrupt but Jubilee cut her off, "Don't be such a party pooper,"

"Fine,"

"We should start with that hair," Jubilee said.

"What's wrong with it?" she was always self conscious about it since the white streaks came in.

"It 's long and boring," she said, pulling out some scissors. Rogue's eyes opened up wide; was she really serious about this? "Come on Roguey trust me!"

"Alright alright," she was not sure why she was trusting the firework conjuring mutant so much, but she was bringing up some valid points. "Just….just not too short?" she requested. Jubilee started with the front of her hair, and shortened up her bangs. Rogue was worried about her touching her skin, but she was very smart about it. She added layers, and trimmed her hair to shoulder length.

"Did you go to school for this?" Rogue questioned surprised about how fast she was going.

"Not really," she said, "I kinda learned how to do these things when I was out on my own," she didn't talk much about her past when she was homeless.

"Thanks sugah," she said, hugging the girl.

_Hope you guys enjoy this!_


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